Foolproof
by D.T. Mars
Summary: Richard's time as a Titan had officially run its course. He just wasn't very sure if Raven agreed with him or not.
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N:_** I have other stories to update, yes, this is very true. But _holy crap._ My brain was going into overload with this idea. Maybe this is 'Road Trip 2.0', like, what would have happened if the trip had been spawned under different circumstances? Who knows? (Certainly not me. _But when do I ever_?) I can honestly say, though, that I don't expect for this to have a concrete plot or storyline, so it might just end up as a little drabble series. (Eh? Eh. Eh!) Anyway, this was pretty fun to write and I hope that you enjoy reading it! :)

 _Disclaimer:_ This is a _fanfiction_ website. - _crickets_ \- Haha!

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Foolproof

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 _Richard's time as a Titan had officially run its course. He just wasn't very sure if Raven agreed with him or not._

* * *

"If you leave me, you're out of your mind!"

— "Countdown", Beyoncé

 ** _._**

It was time to go.

If Richard were to have been honest with himself, he would have realized that this moment was inevitable. It had always been. From the very day that he had fled from the sheltering wings of his former mentor and formed his own team, he had always known that it wouldn't last very long—that _he_ wouldn't last very long as a leader. His brain was always up and running, and he was always much too eager to jump onto the next big and shiny thing. Despite the fact that he had loyal teammates, the fact remained that he was much too impatient and impulsive to have people following his lead and taking his instructions seriously. All in all, he was an unstable individual who simply worked better alone—by himself—and this was something that he had always been aware of.

As such, his time as the leader of the Teen Titans had officially run out.

But it wasn't like Richard _wanted_ to leave. The Titans—his team—they were like a second family to him.

No. Scratch that.

Correction: the Titans—his team—they _were_ a second family to him. Sometimes they felt like even more of a family than the one he had left behind in Gotham. Leaving Jump City, his new home, and his family was _not_ something that he was looking forward to doing. This wasn't something that he wanted to do—he _had_ to do this. _Richard needed to do this_. It was absolutely imperative and integral to his own growth as a person for him to leave. He was twenty-one years old now, thus marking the beginnings of his official manhood. The time had come for him to 'leave the nest' and continue on with his own personal path toward mental, spiritual, and emotional growth and maturity. He needed to spread his wings and _soar_.

Richard just didn't know how to tell the team.

If he told Cyborg, the young leader would just end up getting tricked into helping his friend cook up 'one last meal'. This meal would undoubtedly be a massive buffet, a buffet that Richard would be forced to eat to make up for leaving the team. But by the end of it all, Richard would only be rendered too full to even lift one finger, much less leave the team. Thus, effectively ruining Richard's plans.

Beast Boy would definitely go into some sappy spiel about brotherhood and how 'teamwork makes the dream work'. All of this moaning and groaning would be paired up with a PowerPoint presentation, one that would be demonstrated by a teaching stick to ensure that the lesson would be executed to absolute _perfection._ (In normal Beast Boy fashion, of course.) Then he would shift into an elephant and sit right on top of Richard to keep him from escaping.

And Starfire. Oh, the poor girl would just cry, and this was something that _none_ of the Titans ever wanted to deal with.

But Raven? The empath was his second-in-command, and for one good reason: she had been inside of his head. Raven knew when to give him space and when to get all up in his face and bombard him with questions. She knew him inside and out, better than anyone else on the team, and would support any decision that he would make. Without one doubt or any regret in his mind, this was one person that he could definitely call his best friend. She would understand his need to take this leave because she understood him. Raven _got_ him—she _knew him_. And for this, she was the _key_ component to his foolproof plan.

 _Operation: Bye-Bye Birdie_

While it was true that the mission name could have been better, it wasn't like Richard had been given ample time to think it all through. It was all a rush, _this_ was all a rush. This entire plan was full of holes and last minute preparations, both of which he was not used to at all. Every plan that he came up with was thoroughly mapped out and dissected to the tiniest iota, until it could no longer be dissected; this was just how he was taught to think. But this plan was just as messy and simple as it was stupid, and it _reeked_ of a cowardice that had him crouching in front of Raven's bed at two in the morning.

The blueprint of this plan was pretty simple: first, Richard would tell her that he was leaving. She would respond with something smart and snarky, advising him not to let himself get killed (because Raven cared like that). After that, he would be on his merry way and she would break the news to the rest of the team in the morning.

Honestly, Bruce would mount Richard's ass above his fireplace if he ever found out about this plan. Not because it was such a punk move, but because it was so poorly drawn out—it was a waste of all of his lessons. Yet Richard still found himself nodding at the ' _foolproofedness_ ' of it all, anyway.

Richard shook that off as he watched Raven sleep. He could worry about Bruce and the fallout of this plan (oh, he was sure that there would be one) while he was on the road. He quietly cleared his throat before whispering a tentative, "Rae."

Nothing.

He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling with a shake of his head, but he couldn't really get frustrated. He had come into _her_ room at such a late hour; what could he honestly expect from her or anyone else? With a bit of hesitation, he reached a hand out toward her to gently shake her. "Raven."

A soft sound escaped her. Her lips turned down and into a frown as she shuffled a bit in her spot, raising a hand to bury her fingers into her hair. She began to scratch at her scalp with absentminded strokes before she relaxed and fell back into her slumber, her hand still stuck in her hair.

A grin pulled at Richard's lips and he found himself biting that chuckle back. It wasn't often that anyone would ever see Raven in such a vulnerable state and position. He got the chance to see it every so often whenever they were working on a tough case together. While he was used to working such long hours on cases, she was definitely was not, and after a while she would finally get so fed up that she would have to take a nap at her desk just to recoup. He had to admit that it was pretty cute.

" _Raven_."

Raven's brows immediately knitted at the sound of his voice. She took in a sharp breath before she released it as a tired groan, her violet eyes finally fluttering open as she regarded him. Her brows shifted with confusion as a tiny frown touched her lips once again. She looked concerned. "...hi. What's wrong?"

Her voice was thick and groggy with drowsiness, and paired up with those heavy lidded eyes that were practically begging him to let her go back to sleep, it almost made him reconsider his decision. But no. He had to do this.

"I'm leaving."

And with that, those two, little words had effectively sealed his fate. There was no turning back from this point on. Richard was leaving—he _had_ to leave.

Raven's tiny frown shifted into a little pout, and he knew that it wouldn't have been there had it not been for the late hour. The hand in her hair shifted, and she started a bit as she looked at it. She seemed to be just a _little_ confused about how her fingers ended up getting tangled in her tresses. Carefully, as if she was suspicious about the intentions of her own hand, she pulled it out of her hair and began to rub the sleep out of her eyes with the flat of her palm. "Leaving?"

The moment should have been tense—he was leaving the team, for goodness' sake. But another smile began to tug at his lips. Sure, his teammate and second-in-command had the tendency to be a little creepy and weird (one word that was used quite frequently to describe the entire team, including himself), but she was also very endearing whenever she allowed her guards to crumble. Not that this was an _intentional_ guard crumbling moment.

"Yes," he continued as he fought the growth of his smile. "I'm leaving tonight, right after I'm done speaking with you."

"Oh." Her pout deepened, and he was seriously _this_ close to taking it all back. When did Raven ever pout? "Why?"

"My time is up."

"Time... _up_?"

"As a leader and a Titan, my time is up," he clarified with a nod. He was speaking to her like she was a child, something that she would not have allowed him to do if she had been more awake. "I have to go. It's time for me to go, okay?"

"Oh," she repeated. There was a tone of finality in her voice this time. The hand at her eye slowed a bit, just before it finally stopped. She sat up in her bed and pulled the covers off, stretching her legs out in front of herself before she moved to get up. There she stood in front of him in all of her big T-shirt, bed-headed, sock on one foot, pajama clad glory. With a short yawn, she nodded once. "Okay."

Richard blinked, hesitating as he watched her, and he almost took one step back. _Okay_? What the hell was _okay_ supposed to mean? Now, he hadn't been expecting her to try to persuade him to stay, and he definitely wasn't expecting her to cry, because none of that was _Raven_. But he had to admit that his ego was bruised just a bit.

"Uh," he began with an uneasy chuckle, and she merely watched him chuckle away. He raised a hand to scratch at the back of his neck, because those eyes of hers used to be pretty comforting, but now... They were just confusing him now. Confusion and a slightly bruised ego were _not_ a part of the simple, messy, cowardice and hole ridden plan. "Okay? You're not going to tell me to not get myself killed? Not even a _variation_ of that? Just... Just _okay_?"

"Okay," she confirmed with a nod, right before she raised a finger between the two of them. Her brows were knitted in the type of way that children furrowed their own whenever they were preparing themselves to think or do something really hard. " _Wait_."

 _Ah_ , there it was. Relief poured itself down Richard's spine. She was about to tell him not to get himself killed. She was going to ask him exactly what he wanted her to tell each member of the team. She was–

Raven had turned her back on him and was walking into her _closet_.

His face fell. It took all of his strength not to leave right then and there, but how could he? There was obviously something wrong and _off_ with her. Perhaps coming to her at such a late hour with something as huge as this wasn't such a brilliant idea; she obviously needed sleep just as much as humans did, and she was only half. So, with a short and frustrated groan, he ran a hand down his face and followed after her.

"Rae," he called out. "Go back to sleep, Raven."

Raven didn't stop walking. She didn't even look over her shoulder to regard him. Instead, she slipped right into her walk-in closet and began to sort through the clothes that were hanging on the hangers. She took an article of clothing, examined it for about half a minute, before she dropped it onto the floor beside her foot. _Deliberately_.

Richard's mouth actually fell open.

"Sleep?" she asked. "Why?"

"Because you obviously _need_ it!" he spat out before he could stop himself, prompting her to glance at him from the corner of her eye—as if he was _bothering_ her. He crossed his arms and leaned onto the post of the closet's door, watching as she sifted through her belongings and dropped the clothing of her choosing at her feet. She was being quick and speedy, yet absolutely thorough with her examination. He sighed. "Damn it, Rae, what are you doing?"

"Packing."

The word left her mouth as if he should have known all along. It was in this moment that a black duffel bag began to float its way into the air, coated and covered with dark energy. In the blink of an eye, the energy left it and the bag fell right in the middle of Raven's mess of clothes.

His brows shifted behind his sunglasses. "You're _packing_?"

"Yes. _Packing_."

"Where are you going?"

"Wherever." She took her last piece of clothing from a hanger, a plain black T-shirt. Her mouth pursed a bit as she watched the shirt very closely before she shrugged and sat on the floor with it in hand. At that, she tossed the hanger over her shoulder, folded the shirt, and put into the duffel bag. She continued this pattern with the other clothes that were scattered on the floor.

Richard finally gave in and took that one step back. Okay, that was it. After a bit of hesitation, he took a few steps forward and crouched down in front of her, taking her face into a hand as he made her look at him and meet his eyes. Her cheeks were smushed in his hand, her mouth was a bit contorted, and her eyes were flaming _just_ a bit with anger despite how strange she was acting. Quite frankly, he didn't really care what damage she would do to him because _she_ didn't seem to be understanding anything that was happening at the moment.

"Raven."

Even with her mouth all deformed, it was clear that that little frown of hers was back and in full force. She did _not_ look amused—now, that he _had_ to admit was really cute.

"Richard."

He took a moment to study her, taking her strange behavior and appearance in. It didn't look like a spell had gone haywire, and it also didn't look like she'd had anything to drink that would affect her sobriety (not that Raven would ever do such a thing). He hesitated as he watched her, his eyes making a careful journey around her face before he frowned. "Are you okay?"

Raven blinked, obviously a bit put off by his question. "Yes."

"Are you sure?" he continued.

"Yes." She paused. Both of her brows shifted before one arched. "You?"

Despite his confusion, that pulled a smile and a low chuckle out of him. "Yes, _I'm_ fine, but what's going on with _you_?" he asked, worry creeping into his heart. "What are you doing, Rae?"

" _Pack-ing_."

"Yeah, I _got_ that. But what are you packing _for_? Where are you going, Raven?"

Even with her face still in his hand, she managed to shake her head with a sigh. It was clear that she was already tired of trying to get him to understand her. Hell, _he_ was tired of trying to get himself to understand her.

"Wherever."

Shit.

Richard's stomach turned with discomfort as he watched her. None of this madness would have transpired if he had just waited for the sun to come up. If he hadn't been so impatient and so impulsive, she would have been fine. If he had not been so... _himself_ , Raven would have been okay. He bit back a frown, digging his teeth into his bottom lip. "Raven, you're going back to sleep now. Okay? I'll... I'll come back later, once you've gotten enough sleep. Just... Please go to bed."

Her frown grew. "No."

"No?"

" _No_." With that, Raven pulled her face out of his hand and snapped her fingers. In an instant, all of her clothes were folded neatly and packed into her little duffle bag. She stood, and one shrug of a shoulder and a tiny smile she told him, " _done packing_ ," and made her way out of the closet, her little bag floating in the air and following after her.

Richard stood up straight and followed after her, because honestly, _what the fuck else could he have possibly done_? When he found her, he saw her duffel bag sitting on her bed as she was slipping some shorts on underneath her huge T-shirt. He didn't even know that she owned one pair of shorts. Or that she looked so good in them.

He shook that off.

"Fine," he said. "We're done packing. _Whoop-di-doo_. Now, can you please tell me where you're going?"

"Yes."

A moment of pure silence passed between the two friends as they watched each other, Richard patiently awaiting his answer. Finally, after a full minute passed, he remembered just _who_ he was speaking to.

"Jesus, Rae– _may_ ," he corrected in exasperation. " _May_ , Raven. _May_ you please tell me where you're going?"

There was a bit of a smile on her face, a little quirk of her lips due to the frustration that she had drawn out of him. All of a sudden, a tube of toothpaste along with a toothbrush and a stack of panties, all flared in an unmistakable dark energy, floated their way into the conversation. " _Where. Ever._ "

Richard blinked. First the shorts, and now this. "Right. Okay. I'm just going to pretend that I didn't just see your underwear floating in the air."

Her smile grew at his words. As if she had just remembered something extreme important (like, say, _her sanity_ ), her jaw dropped and she snapped her fingers. She twirled a finger in the air and a pair of flip-flops floated their way into the room from the closet. _Flip-flops_ were the important thing that she had forgotten, not her sanity or her common sense.

 _Flip-flops_.

As Richard was making a pretty sad and pitiful attempt to figure out exactly how to feel about all of this, Raven sat on her bed. She stretched her legs out and allowed the sandals to slide their way right onto her bare feet, which led to another question: when had she gotten rid of that one sock that had been dangling away on her foot? Before he could get to thinking about the possibilities, she looked up at him, her violet eyes wide and full of satisfaction.

"Okay. Ready."

His face contorted with a mixture between confusion and agitation. " _Ready_?"

"Right." She nodded once. "Ready."

At this point, Richard was just grateful that he didn't have a headache. There was simply too much going on right now, and it was all coming from _Raven_ —of all people. He should have been on his bike by now and searching for himself on the wide, open road. He wasn't supposed to be worrying about Raven and her mental health. He definitely shouldn't have been wondering where the hell she was planning on going with that duffel bag full of all her necessities. Needless to say, _none_ of this was going according to his foolproof plan.

"Raven," he began steadily as he crouched down in front of her. There he went again, talking to her like she was a child, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to risk disturbing her when she was obviously disturbed enough. "What are you ready for?"

"To go."

"Go where?"

"With you." She looked down to examine the flip-flops on her feet, her toes dancing to a strange, little beat. "I'm leaving."

"You're _leaving_?" When she gave a little _mh-hmm_ , he sputtered. "You can't be leaving— _I'm_ leaving! _You_ were supposed to break the news to the rest of the team that I was leaving, Raven. You aren't allowed to leave at the same time I'm leaving, and you certainly can't tag along to mock me for it. Wait your turn."

As she continued to observe her feet, she scoffed, most likely because he sounded like such whiny baby. "Together."

His nostrils flared. "Together? We leave... _together_?"

"Yes," Raven confirmed for him. "Together."

Richard's brain was struggling to comprehend both her and the conversation that was being had. This was a pretty big task in itself, especially when he considered the late hour and the fact that Raven had finally gone over the edge—and it was _his_ fault. He shook that off with a harsh sigh. " _Fine_. Okay, whatever. We're leaving together, but why are _you_ leaving?"

Finally, she set her feet onto the ground and looked at him. "You."

" _Me_?"

Raven snorted, and a bit of laughter slipped through. It was clear that she found his confusion entertaining. "Yes, _you._ "

Oh, no. No, no, no, no, _no_. First he had pushed Raven over the edge, and now _this_. He wasn't looking to start a domino effect with his departure. He didn't mean to break the team up like this, not for this. He frowned. "You're leaving... because of _me_?"

"Yes."

Richard's frown deepened. Dismantling the team was _not_ a part of the foolproof plan. _This_ wasn't a part of the plan, _none_ of this was. "Where are you going, then?"

She smiled an almost sweet smile, one that was meant to alleviate his apprehension. "Wherever."

"Wherever," he repeated as he stood and took a step away from her. "You keep saying that, but where _is_ it? Where is... _wherever_?"

"Wherever _you're_ going." Raven stood and took her duffel bag along with her, hooking it over her shoulder as her smile grew into a grin. "Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_ Hey guys! :) I'm glad that I received a positive reaction to this story, but I'm afraid that it's mostly because you guys think that it's a part two of some sorts to my other story, _Road Trip_. So, let me just take this moment to clarify:

This story is **NOT** a continuation of _Road Trip,_ and it is not related or connected to _RT_ in any way, shape, or form.

I really hope that this doesn't turn you guys off and that you stick around and enjoy this story!

 _Note_ : I just HAVE to give a special shoutout to my beta-reader, _**SpeaksWhenItRains** , _for going over this chapter with me!

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Foolproof: Chapter Two

 ** _._**

The freeways in Jump City were pretty empty at around four in the morning, barren and quiet, just as any area would be at such an hour. There were a few pickup trucks that drove by with a dull honking sound, and there was always that one random car that would suddenly appear every half hour, only to speed off and into an exit. The slight chill of the late night emphasized these details for Richard as he sped down the road on his bike, and after the strange night he had just experienced, it was one moment of peace that he was grateful for.

It was pretty safe to say that his messy, cowardly, hole-ridden plan had fallen out. There wasn't anything foolproof about it anymore (admittedly, there truly never had been)—hell, _he_ was the fool in all of this, and the proof was all in his motorcycle's second passenger: Raven. He was quite surprised that she had actually mounted his bike in the first place, and this was mostly because she swore never to do so from the very first moment that she'd seen it. According to her, his motorcycle was a "death trap and a murder weapon on two wheels that would make Trigon giggle with its potential"; this description was quite the exaggeration if Richard had anything to say about it. Yet there she was with him on his bike, a helmet on her head and her arms wrapped around his middle—and he had no clue what to do about any of it.

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy Raven's company, because that couldn't be any further from the truth. Without a doubt, both her company and presence were the most enjoyable out of all his teammates. However, he couldn't just disinvite her from this; not because she had invited herself, but because it would just be rude and he had been raised to do better than that. Raven was his friend, and he liked her—but this was _ridiculous_.

"Coffee," Raven called out, the sound of the motorcycle's engine threatening to drown her voice.

"You need coffee?" he asked. When he felt her nod into his shoulder, he continued with a snort. "What, no _tea_ this morning?"

" _Coffee, Richard_."

If he hadn't been steering this motorcycle, Richard would have doubled over with laughter. He wasn't very surprised by her request, especially when he had been the one to disturb her sleep at such an ungodly hour. It wasn't his fault that she was on his bike at almost five in the morning, but he did owe her something for waking her up so late. So he settled for a chuckle as he searched for a pit stop, and soon enough a gas station caught his eye— _perfect_. Not only would Raven get her coffee, but his motorcycle would get some juice at the same time. It was a win-win for everyone involved.

Richard revved up the motorcycle's engine and merged them off the nearest exit; a path that led them to the gas station. As soon as the bike was parked in front of a fuel dispenser, Raven released her hold on him and climbed off. It was no secret that she hated the 'cycle, and for this, Richard guessed that she had been looking forward to this moment for reasons other than coffee.

Raven pulled helmet off of her head with a grunt and began to comb her fingers through her hair in an effort to rid her mane of any tangles or traces of hat-hair. A look of disdain flickered through her eyes as she studied the tiny convenience store that stood behind him. With a little frown, she met his eyes through the eyepiece of his helmet.

"No Dunkin'?" she questioned.

A laugh poured out of his mouth at her question, and her frown only deepened. His stomach immediately began to turn with guilt; he didn't want to see her frowning over something like coffee. So, he offered her a smile. "Sorry, Rae. I don't think that there are any Dunkin' Donuts open before five A.M."

Raven rolled her eyes and shoved her helmet against his chest, forcing him to hold it. It was pretty clear that she wasn't in the mood to debate anything with him—much less something as absurd as _coffee_ —before she had even gotten a chance to wake herself up. At that, she began to make her way toward the convenience store.

Her miniature tantrum didn't shock Richard; he had actually gotten used to dealing with a tired and cranky Raven long ago, which wasn't a very bizarre fact for him to come to terms with. This was simply a part of his job description, and it had quickly become one as soon as she had been instated as his second-in-command. The two of them spent long, sleepless hours together working on tough, high-profile cases—sometimes even days. It was only right and expected for him to get used to her crankiness, especially when she had to put up with his own crankiness several more times than he had to put up with hers.

Dealing with her temper had never been very hard.

But it was a _whole_ lot easier now that he knew how good her legs looked in a pair of shorts.

He shut the bike off as quickly as he could, giving himself as much time as possible to watch her walk away. She was his friend, and he respected her in every way, shape and form possible, but he couldn't deny that she was pretty nice to look at. The lousy and contemptible excuse that declared that "a man just had to look" simply couldn't suffice for this situation, because that wasn't the case. Richard just had fully functioning eyes; he wasn't blind.

Before his mind could wander any further, he called out to her.

She stopped at the door of the convenience store, her hand on the handle as she arched a brow and waited for whatever he was going to say.

He grinned. "Your temper is showing."

Raven set her jaw with a glare, the paleness of her face gradually growing a bit rosy, right before she raised her hand and twirled a finger into the air. Almost immediately, Richard's helmet pulled itself off of his head and began floating in the air. With a laugh, he tore his eyes away from her, all of his focus trained on retrieving his helmet before it could get too far from his reach. By the time he turned around to look at her, she was gone, and he couldn't stop his smile from growing as much as it did. Messing with her had gotten way too easy, and he was sure that she knew it.

He climbed off of the motorcycle with a brief groan and took the pump from the dispenser before sticking it into the bike's gas tank. Once the proper settings were paid for and taken care of, he locked the motorcycle, hung both helmets on their respective handles, and made his way for the convenience store. It didn't take very long for him to spot Raven standing at the register with a brand new cup of hot coffee in her hand.

"Are we happy now?" he asked as he approached her.

"Moderately." After taking a slow, careful sip of her coffee, she nodded towards the cashier. "I told him that you were buying. Your trip, your money."

Richard couldn't argue with that logic. He reached into his back pocket for his wallet before her words finally registered, right down to the last syllable. "Raven, that's the first time you've said a sentence with more than three words since last night."

Raven snorted, a chuckle following right after. "You woke me up at two in the morning, Richard. I need to be fully awake in order to have a personality." She paused, arching a brow. "And for your information, there are several Dunkin' Donuts that stay open for twenty-four hours, namely in New York."

Richard sighed in relief as he pulled his wallet out and handed the cashier his credit card, muttering a short 'thank you' when it was handed back to him. He didn't even catch the suspicious look that Raven had given him, because _there she was_ , back to her normal self. He had never been more grateful to hear such a know-it-all statement come out of her mouth.

"Thank goodness," he replied. "I thought that something was wrong with you. I was so worried that I had _broken_ you."

A tiny smile stretched its way onto her face and she shook her head. "I'm fine, and I'm completely unbroken. I can't say the same for you, though."

His brows knitted a bit behind his sunglasses, twitching closer together before he finally accepted the emotion he was feeling—confusion. "What do you mean?"

"This whole running away thing." She took another sip of her coffee before clarifying. "Unbroken people don't just take off in the middle of the night like that, Richard. Not when they've got friends who would be worried sick about them."

And this was why Richard decided to leave while everyone was asleep—he knew that there would be a fallout, and he didn't want to deal with it. Like a coward. Richard suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable with having her watch him so closely, and he instantly knew this insecurity was wrong. Those eyes of hers never made him feel uncomfortable, self-conscious, or anything close to those things. Instead, the depth of that gaze would comfort him and put him at ease—but not now. This fact increased his distress, even while his sunglasses were shielding his eyes from her.

"Would you like the receipt, sir?" the cashier asked.

Richard silently thanked every deity he knew of for the brief interruption. He took the receipt with a nod and a stiff smile, stuffing his hands into his pockets as both he and Raven made their way out of the store and to the motorcycle. He rolled his shoulders a few times, like doing that would actually relieve some stress.

"Rae, I–"

"No," she interrupted, raising a hand out to him in emphasis; her head shaking as her brows knitted close together."You don't have to explain yourself to me, especially when you're so uncomfortable. Okay?"

Her eyes were filling themselves up with that comforting emotion he had become so accustomed to, almost as if that gaze was attempting to reach out to soothe him all on its own. It was working, just as it always did, and he immediately felt all of his discomfort and stress melt away. So Richard nodded, and he was sure she could feel the gratitude pouring out of him.

Raven returned the nod and raised a hand to push her hair out of her face, tucking the strands behind her ear.

"It's just that I've had a feeling this was coming," she said. "I was just waiting for you to jump."

Despite his previous discomfort, Richard allowed a chuckle to roll out of his mouth. None of this came as a surprise to him; there were times when she was able to sense how people were feeling before they even had a chance to catch on to their own emotions. "Normal friends don't catch on to stuff like that, you know? Only the _empathic_ ones do."

Raven laughed a bit. The sound was deep and just a bit gravelly, and something about it continued to soothe his nerves. She cocked her head to the side as she looked up at him, the remnants of her laughter manifesting itself into a tiny smile that rested on her mouth. "Well, you sure are lucky to have a completely un-normal and empathic friend like me, then. Aren't you?"

A smile slid its way onto Richard's face, one that mirrored her own tiny one, because he was absolutely lucky to have a friend like her—he was lucky to have her as a friend, period. With a nod, he unhooked the gas pump from its position at the motorcycle's gas tank and shut the sealer. He mounted the bike with one lazy, wide step and reached over to grab a helmet from its spot on a handle. He held it out to her, replying to her question with a grin on his face.

"Yeah. I am."

Raven watched the helmet as if she was reconsidering her decision to join him on this little journey. She _had_ been half-awake, after all. She met his stare through his sunglasses and her eyes narrowed suspiciously, one brow jumping in an arch.

"Where are we going next?" she asked.

"Gotham," he answered.

She rolled her eyes up to the sky with a shake of her head and a sigh. "Of course we're going all the way to _Gotham_ on this death trap."

"Hey," he chastised playfully as he shook the helmet a few times, urging her to take it from him. Unlike before, he was looking forward to this little trip now. He wasn't very sure how long this journey would last, but he was glad that she'd invited herself and tagged along. "You made it this far on this little death trap, didn't you? You can make it to Gotham."

"Gotham is on the other side of this country," she deadpanned. Despite her obvious apprehension, she took the helmet from him and handed him her coffee to place into the cup holder. "I just didn't think that you'd be going all the way over there. If I'd known, I would have–"

"Reconsidered?"

"–packed more clothes."

His mouth fell open, just a bit in a slight case of embarrassment. "Oh."

Raven watched his face carefully, her violet eyes deep and calculating as ever. The space between her brows wrinkled before she shook her head, a scoff escaping her as a small and amused smile grew onto her face. "I hope you know that I'm not letting you do this alone, whatever ' _this_ ' is. You did the same for me, remember?"

"Like I could forget," he admitted with a chuckle. He raised a hand to scratch the back of his neck and arched a brow. "Rae, I'm your friend. Going to hell and back for you, as literal as that actually happened to be; that's kind of my job. I hope you know that you don't owe me anything for that."

She simply shrugged. "I do know that. And as _your_ friend, it's my job to help you."

Richard's stomach filled itself up with a pleasant warmth as a smile crawled onto his face. He really was lucky to have her as a friend, and the rest of the team was included in this. Suddenly, he wasn't very sure if he was quite ready to let it all go anymore.

"You know what, Rae?" he asked, prompting her to nod as she awaited his next words. "You're little, but you're pretty big."

Raven snorted. She pulled her helmet on and climbed onto the motorcycle, settling herself quite comfortably behind him.

"Victor says the same thing," she said, cheek pressed against the space between his shoulder blades.

His smile continued to grow as he pulled his own helmet on, buckling the little belt under his chin. He put the key into the ignition and the engine revved a few times, prompting her to wrap her arms around his middle. "And Rae? This little death trap has a name."

"Let me guess," she began, her voice absolutely droll and unimpressed. "Is it Shirley?"

"Wow, believe it or not, that's _actually_ her name–"

"Oh, just drive, Richard."

Richard laughed and sped out of the gas station without a second thought. He could already tell that this wouldn't be too bad. Not bad at all.


End file.
